Last time, we left off with Jesus and His apostles dining in the house of His latest covert, the apostle Matthew. He was eating with ‘sinners’ and simultaneously publicly dissecting the hypocrisy that was spewing out of the mouths of the Pharisees (see Do You Know Who Heals and Speaks for God? )

         As the meal progresses, the Pharisees get their feathers ruffled, because Jesus’ disciples weren’t fasting like the disciples of John the Baptist or those of the Pharisees, (Lk. 5:33). Christ responds:

“Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.” Lk. 5:34, 35. NLT

            ‘Fasting’ is a spiritual practice of denying oneself food and / or drink, for a prescribed period, to remove one’s focus from the flesh, and place it on one’s spirit – just like Jesus did before His first corporeal encounter with Satan (Lk. 4:1, 2).

            It was a Mosaic commandment that was especially to be adhered to on the annual Day of Atonement (a day set aside for the atonement of Israel’s corporate sin).

            The Pharisees (who twisted most Scripture purposely, so that the laity would be forced to come to them for ‘enlightenment,’), demanded fasting from their congregants 2 days per week – throughout the entire year.

            Fasting was also associated with mourning. And so here, Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees, saying that when He (the Bridegroom) was with His disciples, it was time for rejoicing, not for mourning. Christ is also suggesting that He is the ultimate authority over the interpretation and implementation of the word of God. (They don’t know that He is the Word of God).

            In addition, Jesus is also alluding (unbeknownst to the Pharisees), that He is well aware of His impending death.

            Then, Jesus relays His first recorded parable to them:

“No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise, not only will he tear the new, but also the piece from the new garment will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, it will spill, and the skins will be ruined. No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins. And no one, after drinking old wine, wants new, because he says, ‘The old is better.’” Lk. 5:36 – 39. CSB

         A parable is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson – wrapped within the social framework of the hearer’s understanding. Jesus brought His teachings to the level of the farmers and sheepherders who composed most of His audiences. He related to His listeners, just like the apostle Paul:

When l was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. 1 Cor. 9:20 NLT

            Jesus’ parables were simple yet theologically sound.

            Good parables…beef up an argument’s thrust by making it relatable and mentally sticky…They employ characters and themes that immerse us into the truths being taught. They force us to ask how we would act in a situation…teaching us about our relationship to the truth.

Abdu Murray from ‘Seeing Jesus from The East.’

            Returning to Jesus first parable, He was describing a process well known and understood by His audience, saying that using a new piece of cloth to patch an older garment will tear away from the old, if it has not been previously ‘preshrunk’ by a process involving pressure, heat, and moisture.

            What He is trying to get the Pharisees to understand is that the old forms of Judaism could not contain the New Covenant message that Jesus was bringing, because the new message was not a ‘patch’ for the old.

            Similarly, in referring to fermenting wine, (which they did in goatskins), the skins must be new, or the out-gassing of the fermentation process would burst an old wineskin.

            What Jesus is laying on the Pharisees, is that they cannot mix their message with His, and that they are not spiritually able (‘not willing’) to receive the Truth.

            The last sentence in Christ’s parable speaks to the Pharisees stubborn grip on their old ways, which will ultimately deny them entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven…

            In approximately 28 A.D., Jesus and His disciples returned to Jerusalem to celebrate a feast [Some biblical scholars believe it was Passover, others the Feast of Harvest (Pentecost)].  

         During that time, Jesus visited a pool called Bethesda, whereupon God would send an angel at regular intervals to stir the waters. And the first person to enter the pool afterwards, would be cured of whatever was ailing them.

            There, He came upon a disabled man who had been in that state for 38 years (Jn. 5:5). Lovingly and compassionately, Jesus simply says:

“Would you like to get well? Jn. 5:6 NLT

            The man answers that no one will carry him to the pool. Christ heals him on the spot!

“Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” Jn. 5:8 NLT

            However, it was the Sabbath Day; and the Pharisees got riled up because this miraculously cured man was carrying his mat (working) on that day. Later, Jesus would meet the man at the Temple, where He said:

“Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” Jn. 5:14 NLT

(Technically, all illness was ultimately caused by that first sin in the Garden. We were supposed to be immortal and whole).

The man was jubilant, telling everyone that Jesus cured him. That invoked the wrath of the Pharisees even more, because He healed on the Sabbath, and now they begin to try to figure out how to kill Him.

Christ gets in their face:

“My Father has worked [even] until now, [He has never ceased working; He is still working], and I, too, must be at [divine] work.” Jn. 5:17 AMPC

         ***Here is the turning point of Christ’s ministry. He is publicly declaring His deity – saying that God is His unique Father, and that He, the Son, is doing His Father’s work.

            Of course, this sent the Pharisees into a frenzy. First, He breaks their twisted version of the Sabbath, and now He places Himself on equal footing with Jehovah. Yet, He’s still not done!

“Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does these things. Jn. 5:19 CSB

            Christ is proclaiming that He is a direct extension of His Father’s will and that Jehovah’s power courses through Him as well. Why? Jesus tells us:

“For the Father dearly loves the Son and shows Him everything that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works that these, so that you will be filled with wonder.” Jn. 5:20 AMP

            Thus, God will enable Jesus to work even greater miracles to try to open the tightly closed hearts of the Jews. How great are those miracles?

“For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants. In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.” Jn. 5:21 – 23. NLT

            This is really BIG. Jesus has both the power of resurrection and will sit on the great throne of judgment at the end of time. Notice too, that Christ is to be revered equally with the Father. Look at just how BIG Jesus is:

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see – such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation. 1 Col. 1:15 – 17. NLT

         REAL BIG. Next, Jesus elaborates on the present and the eternal ramifications of what He has just revealed:

“…the person who hears My word [the one who heeds My message], and believes and trusts in Him who sent Me has (possesses now) eternal life [that is, eternal life actually begins – the believer is transformed], and does not come into judgment and condemnation, but has passed [over] from death into life.” Jn. 5:24 AMP

            Thus, anyone who believes in God and acts to the best of their ability, on every word that proceeds from the mouth of Jesus, has eternal life now. Death will only consist of shedding the temporal body.

            That’s all good, but what happens to all the people who died before Jesus showed up?

“…the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment.” Jn. 5:28, 29. NLT

         ‘Doing good,’ refers to behavior that reflects one’s faith in God. It is your faith and faithfulness that God wants. You cannot earn your way to heaven. The only way is by the Grace of God, through Jesus Christ. And yet, there will be those who don’t come aboard:

The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that he sent me. And the Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have never heard his voice or seen him face to face, and you do not have his message in your hearts, because you do not believe me – the one he sent to you.

You search the scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life. Jn. 5:36 – 40. NLT

            Their outcome will be far from palatable. Praise God for His grace, because those of us who follow His Son, will be blessed on that same day:

…let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed. It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that never die…this scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us our victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15:51 – 56. NLT

            Amen.

            Goodnight and God bless.